Ajo blanco, a white version of gazpacho, is believed to have originated with the Moors. If you’d like a smoother texture, try soaking the blanched almonds in milk before processing.

Adapted from The Fondue Cookbook by Gina Steer (Whitecap Books).

Serve with cherry or plum dipping sauce. Adapted from a VH Sauces recipe.

I ordered a wedge salad on one of my first dates back in the 1960s and felt very grown-up doing so. This satisfying salad fell out of fashion for many years but is now popping up on restaurant menus again.

Recipe courtesy of www.pc.ca .

Recipe courtest of the Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Serve this soup hot or chilled. Recipe adapted from Oster. 

Somewhere in the back of your cupboard you have a can of crabmeat. Tonight’s the night. Lemon wedges and hot pepper sauce are the ideal condiments, with steamed green beans and potato salad to round out the meal. Or whatever you have. 

Spread your favourite jam on each crêpe and spoon a dollop of whipped cream sweetened with sugar and a splash of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur to transform this appetizer into a luscious dessert. Updated from an old recipe I had from Sunset Magazine.

Most of the components of this dish can be prepared ahead, allowing you lots of time to enjoy your guests. Recipe adapted from Gina Steer’s The Fondue Cookbook (Whitecap Books).

Be sure to choose firm cucumbers for this dish. English Cucumbers are the easiest to use because they contain minimal seeds. Otherwise, you can remove the seeds from other cucumber varieties with a small spoon.

In India, a chat is a snack, an appetizer or a light salad.

Some people prefer to blend all the ingredients together while others prefer the look of mixed and chopped ingredients. Experiment to find which method is your favourite.

This popular Italian rice dish has infinite variations. If you’re short on time, make this risotto a day or two ahead of when you need it. It can be reheated in the oven in just a few minutes.

Recipe adapted from Great Foods of the World -- Regional Italian, Mexican and Asian Cooking by Evan Kleiman, Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken and Joyce Jue (Fog City Press).

This recipe is quick and tasty. It's a great way to use up all of those tomatoes that are so abundant in late summer.

This is a quick and delicious appetizer courtesy of McCormick Canada. The shrimp can be replaced with large scallops. Serve with lemon or lime wedges. These are also delicious cold. Remember, if you're using wooden skewers to soak them in water 2 hours to prevent burning.

You can substitute any kind of meat in this recipe. Make the patties large enough to fit a hamburger bun, small enough to be bite-sized hors d'ouvres or shape them around a skewer as perfect picnic fare.

Recipe courtesy of Oster.

You can also turn this appetizer into an entrée. Butterfly chicken breasts, spread the stuffing over the cut surface, and secure the edges with a toothpick. Or, de-bone chicken legs and stuff the cavity, again securing the leg with a toothpick. When buying the ingredients, make sure that you go home with more mushrooms than you think you might need. Some will undoubtedly break when the stems are removed. This recipe has been adapted from the California Culinary Academy.

It doesn’t get much better than this. Thick potato planks with a cup of bacon-flavoured dip. This is the dish to bring out whenever there’s a sports crowd at your home.

This salad is a treat for your taste buds. Add it to a sandwich, or serve as is with steak. The amount can easily be doubled or tripled with fantastic results.

Recipe courtesy of Lobel’s Meat Bible (Raincoast Books).

This recipe is courtesy of La Fontaine de Bernn snail farm.

This is a quick and lemon-lime-tasting recipe adapted from The Young Thailand Cookbook by Wandee Young and Byron Ayanoglu (Random House Canada). Fresh clams are a must. Look for specimens that have intact shells, and that close when they’re tapped. Serve with hot sauce and steamed rice.

Tamotsu’s recipe involves store-bought mix. This option is easier except for one drawback: the instructions will be in Japanese. Following is a from-scratch recipe from Setsuko Yoshizuka from About.com.

You can replace the beef with pork if you'd like. Or try other vegetables such as mushrooms and eggplant. Recipe courtesy of McCormick Canada.

Recipe courtesy of Lobel’s Meat Bible (Raincoast Books).

Feel free to substitute your favourite type of pear in this exotic combination.

Here is the classic French leek and potato soup that is traditionally served cold.

Serve strawberries warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.